Random One Shots
by Kara Crane
Summary: Private acquires a quill that once belonged to a Writer who had once been a failed Knight, who was in love with a duck who had once been a girl, who had once been a princess ...
1. Five Otters

Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar do not belong to me.

Short 1 - Five Otters

She was very excited. Marlene had heard from Julien, who had heard from the chameleon, who had heard from Phil and Mason who had overheard the keeper, Alice; the zoo was getting new tenants! Not just anyone mind, but otters! Her habitat expansion was almost complete, and she was zipping around trying to keep everything neat and tidy for her new roomies.

Finally the big day arrived and she watched eagerly as the crate was opened. All she saw were four dark blurs that dove into the water.

"Hi! My name's Marlene and I'd like to be the first one to officially welcome you to Central Park Zoo!" She greeted the four hiding under the surface.

As soon as Alice was gone four black heads bobbed to the surface and scanned the area. In the span of a blink they had leaped from the pond and landed in front of her. Each of them were stunning specimens. Stunning _male_ specimens.

Marlene gulped, suddenly feeling very nervous.

One of them stepped forward, the obvious leader of this lot. Still dripping, his fur was well-groomed, lustrous and blacker than the midnight sky. In contrast, his face around his muzzle, down his throat and across his chest was whiter than snow. His stout, powerful frame and rippling muscles may have intimidated her a little, but it was his piercing cobalt eyes that stole the breath from her lungs.

"Greetings fellow otter, my current designation is Skipper. Men!" He barked to the three behind him. His rich and husky voice made her heart pitter-patter. "Sound off!"

"Private!" Saluted the youngest.

"Kowalski!" The tallest snapped off a quick salute and motioned to the robust one beside him. "Rico."

She didn't know why, or how, but at that moment she felt as though a part that had been missing was returned to her. She felt complete, and safe.


	2. Gender Bender

Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar do not belong to me.

Short 2 - Gender Bender

He was swimming again. For a diurnal creature he was up swimming at very late hours. She didn't care though, she could watch for eternity and never tire of it. Accepting that she had such feelings had been a large personal hurdle, one she had eventually overcome. Accepting these feelings were for _him_. Well, still a hurdle, just not as large a one.

They were just so different. Was it at all possible he felt the same? Would he accept and return? Or deny and reject? Or, and heaven forbid, somehow get either of them transferred far away? She didn't think it would go that far, he was a civilian, and a fairly mellow one at that.

She remembered the silky sleekness of his fur, and had many dreams of his arms wrapped around her, his strong jawline resting on her shoulder ...

"Madame?" A familiar voice asked from behind her.

She whirled around with a furious visage and glared at the three heads looking at her from the fish bowl entrance. "Ladies!" She barked. "What are you doing breaking curfew?! Back to bed, all of you!"

"Aye Skipper!" They saluted and vanished back down into HQ. She turned her gaze to the swimming otter one more time.

"Goodnight Marl."


	3. Red Slasher: To be Feline

Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar do not belong to me.

AN: After Cat's Cradle and the Slasher's been returned to her exhibit.

Rhodesian Slasher: To be Feline

She'd never met a more pathetic male than the striped one. And the trouble he'd brought! It certainly had been the worst day of her life. Well, second worst day of her life. The day she'd been captured from the wild was still ranked as the absolute worst. Not only was her freedom lost, but her kitlings had been no where near ready to be on their own. She hoped her clan had taken good care of them

Lurking in the pitch darkness of her false den, she snarled angrily at the memory. Not even when the meat was thrown in by the human did she exit.

"Stupid man, couldn't even tell the difference between a common stray cat and a Red Rhodesian Slasher." The human grumbled. "You're so frightened you won't even come out to eat now."

Fear? _Fear?!_ She'd show that human the true meaning of fear!

Yowling incoherently, she surged from her lurking spot and leapt with all her strength at the keeper beyond the wall, teeth bared and claws fully extended. She didn't reach her target, but the terrified shriek and backward stumble of her prey was very satisfying. And, just because she was a cat, she turned her nose up at the meat and lightly sauntered away, tail waving.


	4. Maurice: Fairytale

Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar doesn't belong to me!

AN: A little snippet that got in my head and wouldn't go away, or let me finish it.

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_Once upon a time ..._ _what strange words to start a story with._ Maurice mused a he listened to a teacher read to her class from a book. _Why not just say when it happened?_ They couldn't, he knew, the stories were pure fiction. But why lie to children? It was something he'd never understand. When he told a story, he started with the name of the ruler whose reign the story had happened in.

For he was Maurice, the lore-keeper of the tribe, advisor and butler of King Julien. He knew the name of every ruler, the names and tales of all the great lemur heroes, be they royalty or not.

"Pssst, Maurice!" A familiar voice hissed softly. He could see Julien looking in his direction, so he only angled his ear toward the hiding spot of Private to show he was listening. "Could you spare a mango? I've got this wonderful idea for a new smoothie, mango-minnow!"

_Eugh._ He thought as Julien's attention turned to getting Mort off 'De Royal Feet'. "All the fruit is under the bar, you're welcome to take what you can carry without getting caught!" He whispered back before, unbidden, an image of Rico's almost unnatural storage capacity came to mind. "In your flippers!" He amended as the black and white blur vanished. He didn't worry too much, he knew that only Rico could ... do what he did. He continued to listen to the story and didn't notice when Private returned, mango in flipper.

"Cinderella! I love this story!" Was the young penguin's cheery comment before he made himself comfortable in the hiding spot to listen to the rest of it. Maurice lifted a skeptical eyebrow before a thought occurred. _Private's been around humans longer, he'd probably know the point._

"Hey, what's the deal? Why are the adults telling kids those lies? Wouldn't it be better to just tell them the truth?"

"What? The fairytales?" A long pause and he felt the sombre silence sit heavily in the air between them. He also felt a bit of satisfaction, Private was thinking about his answer, that meant he was taking his question seriously. "They're too young for the truth. So adults tell them these stories with their happy endings to make sure that they know that no matter how bad things look, it'll turn out alright in the end. Besides, they're not kids forever, the adults want them to stay innocent as long as they can."


	5. Private the StorySpinner

Disclaimer: Penguinsof Madagascar and Princess Tutu don't belong to me.

AN: ... I knew that Princess Tutu marathon was a bad idea. If anyone wants to adopt this, go ahead and give it a good home! Just give me a holler if you do, please?  


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_Once upon a time, there was a failed knight that became a story-spinner. The story-spinner was in love with a duck who had once been a girl, who had once been a princess. The story-spinner vowed he would write a story and turn the duck into a girl, and they would have their happy ending. He tried and he tried and he failed. For the duck that he loved died of old age. The story-spinner, having failed, thrust his sharpened quill into his heart and died, taking with him the last of the story-spinner blood. _

_But the quill, now red with the blood of the story-spinner that had once been a failed knight who had been in love with the duck who had been a girl, who had been a princess, never lost it's lethal edge and never needed to be dipped in ink. It is said strange circumstances surround the owners of the red quill, and it continued to be passed from hand to hand until, by strange circumstance, it reached the flippers of a penguin in a zoo who was in love with a mother duck, who was friends with an otter, who was in love with the penguin's commanding officer._


End file.
